NIC

N I C

( 136' )

■polite it confiderably and then pour the folutioninto cold diftilled water, by which the oxyd ofbifmutb (c) will be precipitated.

4. To the filtered folution add rnuriat of fodadrop by drop as long as any precipitate fallsdown ; this is rnuriat of fiber (d).

5. Now evaporate the folution nearly to dry-nels, and boil it with ftrong nitric acid as longas any nitrous gas is given out: during the pro-cefs red oxyd of iron (e) will be precipitated.

6. Having removed the oxyd of iron, nearlyfaturate the liquor with foda and pour in nitratof lead as long as any arfeniat of lead (f) isprecipitated, which feparate by the filter.

7. The nitrous folution being now decom-pofed by carbonated foda, and the walhed pre-cipitate digefted in liquid ammonia, oxyd ofiron ( g ) mixed with alumine [h) will be left be-hind, which may be feparated in the ufual wayby cauftic fixed alkali.

8. The ammoniacal folution is to be flightlyfuperfaturated with nitric acid, and a bar of ironbeing immerfed in it will feparate the copper (7):after winch the liquor is to be decompofed bycarbonated foda and the precipitate again di-gefted in ammonia, that the iron ufed for fepa-rating the copper may be got rid of.

9. The folution containing now only nickeland cobalt, is to be treated according to Mr. R.Phillips’s a method, as follows. Evaporate theliquor till the excefs of ammonia is driven off,■which may be known by the vapour ceafing todifcolour moilt turmeric paper: then largelydilute it and pour in pure potafh or foda as longas any precipitation takes place; what fallsdown is oxyd of nickel ( k).

10. The cobalt (/) alone remains in "folution,and may be readily feparated by accuratelyfaturating the liquor with nitric acid and thenadding carbonated foda.

The above general mode of proceeding isalfo applicable to the analylis of nickel ochre,except that it fhould firft of all be digefted inwater to diffolve out any fulphat of nickel whichit may accidentally contain.

Nickel is not applied to any ufe, and there-fore no attempt has been made in the large way•to reduce its ores. The moft fatisfadtory me-thod of performing this in the laboratory onfmall quantities is the following.

a Diffolve the ore in dilute nitric ornitro-mu-riatic acid, and then ftir into the clear folutiona quantity of finely pulverized charcoal aboutequal in weight to the ore diffolved : evaporatethe mixture to dvynefs and put it into a bellying

cylindrical crucible with the mouth loofelyclofed with a bit of charcoal or an earthen-wareftopper. Place the crucible in a wind furnaceand give it a full red heat as long as any arfen-ical vapours are difengaged : if this is carefullyperformed nearly the whole of the arfenic willbe got rid of in a quarter of an hour or twentyminutes, far more effectually than by fevevalhours roafting in the ufual method. Nowempty the contents of the crucible upon anearthen teft, and by a gentle red heat withaccefs of air burn off all the remaining char-coal.

b Transfer the contents of the teft to a flafk,and digeft them with dilute nitric acid as longas any thing is taken up. Then boil the filteredfolution with a little more acid in order toacidify any arfenic that may yet remain : thisbeing done, faturate the liquor with foda and addnitrat of lead till it ceafes to give a precipitate.

c Having feparated the arfeniat of lead, addto the clear liquor a little muriatic acid andboil it with a bar of zinc : the fupernatant deepgreen liquor will now contain only the oxyds ofzinc, cobalt and nickel.

d Decontpofe the folution by a carbonatedalkali and digeft the wafhed precipitate in am-monia, by which the zinc will be left behind;and then feparate the oxyd of nickel accordingto Mr. Phillips’s method already delcribed.

e Mix the oxyd of nickel with glafs of boraxand expofe it in a crucible with a little carbon-aceous matter to the highelt heat of a powerfulfurnace •, a reguline button will thus be pro-duced which is pure nickel.

§ 3. Physical and Chemical properties of Niche/,

The colour of nickel is a dull yeilowifh white :its fradture is foliated; it is brittle, yet-not lomuch fo as to prevent it from undergomg aflight extenfion under the hammer. Its fp. gr.is = 8.51. It is ftrongly attracted by themagnet.

Thefe are the characters of the pure regulusas obtained by Mr. Phillips according to hisprocefs, the efficacy of which there Teems noreafon to fufpedt. M. Richter however hasrecently publillied a memoir bn this metal, b invt'hich he claims for it the rank of a noble one,and the characters of which according to himare the following. Its colour is between filverand tin white : it is not oxydable by expofureto the atmofphere: it is malleable either hot orcold, and by laminating may be reduced, intoleaves no thicker than -,-C. of an inch. Its fp. gr.

Phil. Mag. xvi, p. 31a. 1 VairMons Journ. de Chiai. vol. vi, or Phil. Mag. xxiii. p.

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